1 Corinthians 8:4-7 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world… I. THE WORLD'S MANY GODS. To make gods for himself has been man's great object all along. Every nation has had its gods, and every age. Is there no god-making still, even in our day? Money, business, pleasure, lusts, luxuries! Will they prove more helpful in the day of trouble than Baal, or Jupiter, or Buddha? Will they forgive, and save, and comfort? II. THE SAINT'S ONE GOD. Yes; one only, the living and the true God. Jehovah is His name. With undistracted eye the Christian looks but to one, not many; with undivided heart he fixes on one, not many; and that one sufficient to fill his whole heart, and soul, and being. How the thought of that one God — infinite, eternal, and unchangeable — makes all that are called gods to vanish utterly away! "Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul." We need no other; we need no more. III. THE SAINT'S ONE CHRIST. "To us there is but one Lord Jesus Christ." As there are many beings who go under the name of God, so are there many who go under the name of Christ, yet there is but one Christ, not two, nor many. The tendency of the present day is to multiply Christs. A Christ as the impersonation or representative of humanity is quite in accordance with the spirit of the age. But every one wants to have his own Christ, just as each heathen wanted to have his own god; the Christ that suits his own fancy, or his own philosophy, or his own intellect, or his own circumstances. Some want a Christ who is not God; others a Christ who is not a sacrifice; a Christ without a cross, and without blood; a Christ who will teach but not expiate sin; a Christ whose life and death are an example of self-surrender to the utmost, but not an atonement; a Christ who is not a judge, nor a law-giver, nor a priest, and only a prophet in the sense of teacher. If thus, then, there is but one Christ, then there is but — 1. One Cross. 2. One Priest. 3. One altar. 4. One sacrifice. 5. One way to the kingdom. (H. Bonar.) Parallel Verses KJV: As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. |
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